Golf-club.



No. 715,225. Patented Dec. 2-, I902." H. K. WHITNER.

G 0 L F C L U B (Application filed Nov. 15,, 1901.;

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT Grinch.

HIRAM K. VVHITNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GOLF-C LU B.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,225, dated December 2, 1902.

Application filed November 15, 1901. Serial No. 82,342. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, HIRAM K. WHITNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented Improvements in Golf-Clubs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more particularly to a species of implements known as golf-clubs, of which there are various types.

The object of my invention is to provide a golf-club shaft whereby the grip of the hand may hold said club more firmly and with less rigidity of the upper limbs of the body than by means of clubs as heretofore constructed. It is not good form to permit said shaft to lie deep in the palm of the hand. Suppleness is best attained when said shaft is held in the phalanges' proper of the fingers and thumbs. Hereinafter I will show how my improved golf-club is made to bring into play those distinctive anatomical members.

My invention consists in a novel construction of the component parts that enter into mynew and improved golf-club, whereby said club may be made to move more accurately in the direction indicated by the eye.

In this application for Letters Patent we have to deal principally with the harmonious grip of the hands. Hence in order to more fully understand the scope of my invention it will be necessary to disclose some of the defects that may be attributed to bad form. Gripping tightly with the right hand is apt to cause pulling, nor will the head of the club follow through after the impact with the ball. If the right-hand knuckles are too far under, (a common error,') slicing and topping are the results. Pressure must be kept up after the impact of the club-head with the ball. This cannot be successfully done if the shaft rests deep in the palm of the right hand.

As heretofore constructed that portion of the shaft intended to be grasped by the hands has had a wrapping of various materials symmetrically in form, gradually tapering in the direction of the club-head, or fixed indentations or imprints hardened without reference to the size of the hands that are expected to use them, yet the properly placing of the hands about said club-shaft is one of the cardinal points, as hereinbefore mentioned.

Figure 1 represents several portions of a golf-club embodying my invention, the intermediate section being cut away, it not being essential in disclosing my invention. Fig. 2 representsa club treated in a like manner as Fig. 1, but embodying a modification of my invention. Fig.3showsadetachedknob. Fig. 4: shows another form of detached knob.

Similar letters indicate the same parts.

A is that portion of a golf-club shaft usually gripped by the hands, showing the usual form of wrapping found in the art to which my invention appertains. Club-head B, face (3, toe D, and heel E are well known in the art above referred to.

o, and b show form of knob I preferably use. It will be observed that d in Fig. 4: is ofa triangnlarpyramidalform. eisascreworother means whereby said knob may be detachably secured to the shaft of the club.

I do not claim for my grip illustration the technic of golf form; but for illustration in disclosing my invention in order that others versed in the arts may know how to construct and use my invention it answers the purpose admirably.

Anatomically the index-finger in grasping the contour of a golf-club is much shorter than the second finger. In fact, when the right hand grasps such bodies an alphashaped space is left void, bounded by the root of the thumb f, the nailed phalanx g of I the second finger, and tip of the index-finger h at the base of said alpha-shaped void. This is clearly shown in Fig. 1, and to occupy this void with my knob a, as shown in Fig. 1, is the essence of my invention as I preferably construct it. The position of the left thumb f, as brought into this Fig. 1, while it is not bad form, is not essential to my invention. As hereinbefore set forth, the powerful root of the thumb fon one side the members of palpation on the other sides of the above-referred-to alpha void now occupied by my knob 11, Fig. 1, not only gives firmness to the grip upon said shaft, but it also discloses the position of the hand with reference to the club-face G, which must, because of this relationship, be uniformly alike in every stroke and, moreover, keeps the club-shaft out of the depth of the palm of the hand while making the swing. If we now transfer the hands to Fig. 2 and let knob a. occupy the said void of the right hand, exactly as shown in 1,

' then knob b may be made to occupy the void 0 outlined in Fig. 1, but now transferred to Fig. 2, Where said knob 19 will contact with the root of the left thumb f, the web '5 connecting the roots of the left thumb f and index-finger h of the left hand and the nailed phalanx of the little finger 7c of the right hand. (Fully outlined in Fig. 1, but now transferred to Fig. 2.) It will be readily understood in this latter case that we have a powerful auxiliary in knob 19 when said grip is applied to Fig.2. While I preferably use but one knob, as shown in Fig. 1, for purposes in teeing off, I preferably use the auxiliary method shown in Fig. 2 in going through the fair greenthat is, for brassy shots and cleek shots. Another method of grasping with the knobs placed relatively as in Fig. 2 is to so space A that the nailed phalanx of the right index-finger h will contact knob a and the nailed phalanx of the right little finger 70 will contact with knob 19, thus crowding the four fingers of the right hand into the space A in a sword-hilt fashion. In putting on the green, whereit is good form to extend the thumb and indexfinger of the right hand down the shaft, knob a, may be entirely omitted. Here knob b becomes the primary knob, notwithstanding that it retains its position in the hereinbefore-described void 0.

As hereinbefore stated, I do not limit myself to any special form of knob, nor do I hold that I have particularized all the possible positions in which said knob or knobs may be grasped by the respective hands. Any such modifications would be but equivalents of what I specified.

Having thus described my invention, I will now in claims point out what I desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a golf-club, the combination, with a shaft provided with wrappings A thereby forming a symmetrical periphery adapted to be grasped by the hands of a golf-player, of a knob, substantially as shown, and means, as described, whereby said knob may be affixed to said periphery thereby providing a detachable grip auxiliary adapted to engage with the anatomical members of said golfplayer, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a golf-club, the combination, with a shaft provided with wrappings A thereby forming a symmetrical periphery adapted to be grasped by the hands of a golf-player, of a series of knobs, substantially as shown, and means, as described, whereby said knobs may be affixed to said periphery thereby providing detachable grip auxiliaries adapted to engage with the anatomical members of said golf-player, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a golf-club, the combination, with a shaft provided with wrappings A thereby forming a symmetrical periphery adapted to be grasped by the hands of a golf-player, of a knob, substantially as shown, a screw e as a means whereby said knob may be afi'ixed to said periphery pertaining to said shaft thereby providing a detachable grip auxiliary adapted to engage with the anatomical members of the hand of said golf-player, as and for the purpose set forth.

HIRAM K. WHITNER. 

